…What man or mouse with a fully functioning human brain and a résumé as thin as Palin’s would flirt with a presidential run? It makes the political biography of Barack Obama look more like Winston Churchill’s, despite the fact that the 44th president breezed into the Oval Office as little more than a glorified state senator.

Well, it sure beats the heck out of being a whiny loser who quits Congress just months after his district (US!!) re-elects him in a tidal wave, because the BUSHIES didn’t give him that high profile slot in D.C. as a reward for all the TV mad dog work he did during the 2000 Florida recount. So, pissant that he is, he quits ~ “For the my children.” ~ costing one of Florida’s poorest counties (US!!) a special election. First he gets himself a high profile “job” with a local, BIG TIME LIBERAL law firm, and then came the MSNBC gig, ostensibly to be filmed from our PBS studios here ( “For the my children.” ). But HEY! Big city, bright lights. See. Ya….Gomers! Fame and fortune, Doctor Jones.

And NOW he’s carrying (some spectacularly classless, IMHO) water for the Bushes again?
W. T. F.???

Sarah’d eat that schlub alive. But I hope she brushes it off, like the dung beetle kind of thing it is.

For somebody who’s supposed to be so unworthy of regard, she sure gets a lot of flack from all sides for just existing.

The Senate on Monday night defeated two amendments designed to ease the tax-filing requirements for small businesses.

Senators voted 61-35 — six votes short of the necessary 67 — to reject an amendment by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) that would strip a provision from the new healthcare law that requires businesses to report supply purchases of $600 or more with a single vendor. Likewise, the chamber voted 44-53 to defeat Sen. Max Baucus’ (D-Mont.) amendment, which would accomplish the same provision but is unpaid-for. That amendment also required 67 votes.

At issue is a section of the new healthcare law that requires businesses, charities and state and local governments to file 1099 reports for all transactions above $600 per year. The votes also represented a noteworthy showdown between Johanns and Baucus, who presented a similar idea but did not fund it through offset spending cuts.

The New York Times, one of members of the provisional wing of Wikileaks, calls what Wikileaks is doing an exercise in “seeking transparency.”

Transparency, my ass.

If they were seeking transparency, they would publish ANY NATION’S confidential documents, but they aren’t. Their actions are more than mere tacit support of al Qaida and the Taliban. Their mission has been to undermine the standing of the United States, and the United States alone, and they are doing it in close coordination with a small coterie of press operations.

To begin with, those with access to SIPRNET and the Diplomatic Communications network who have been giving Wikileaks the documents are breaking the law, and are being openly treasonous. Wikileaks on the other hand, is at the very least violating copyright and trafficing in stolen goods to such a great magnatude that they have committed a high crime.

What I did not make sufficiently clear in the previous post is that while the content of these leaks is a yawner the fact that someone was able to get all them out is a very very serious problem. And no, I don’t agree with Rep. King that the goddamned anti-terrorist legislation should be expanded to include this.

All agencies of the government need to take a very very hard look at the sloppy slip-shod way they handle data.

Since the dawn of modern warfare, the best way to stay alive in the face of incoming fire has been to take cover behind a wall. But thanks to a game-changing “revolutionary” rifle, the U.S. Army has made that tactic dead on arrival. Now the enemy can run, but he can’t hide.

After years of development, the U.S. Army has unleashed a new weapon in Afghanistan — the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System, a high-tech rifle that can be programmed so that its 25-mm. ammunition detonates either in front of or behind a target, meaning it can be fired just above a wall before it explodes and kills the enemy.

Unlike many gifts that are seemingly forgotten very soon after they’re unwrapped I can assure you, Dear Readers, that I will lovingly cherish this and use it on the New Jersey Turnpike nearly every day as a measure of my deep abiding appreciation for you and your thoughtfulness.

Oh sure, some people want a Lexus or a Mercedes but I am far more sensible and thrifty with you hard-earned dollars

Lehner said the first XM25s were distributed to combat units in Afghanistan this month. The 12-pound, 29-inch system, which was designed by Minnesota’s Alliant Techsystems, costs up to $35,000 per unit and, while highly sophisticated, is so easy to use that soldiers become proficient within minutes.

So pretty please allow me to be the first kid on the block with one!

The military isn’t overly concerned that the weapon might be captured by the enemy, because they would be unable to obtain its highly specialized ammunition, batteries and other components. Lehner said he expects other nations will try to copy its technology, but it will be very cost-prohibitive.

Until, of course, Bill Clinton sells some to his Chinese friends.

Or some pimply turd-muncher wanders in to a secure facility with a cd-rw disk.

Look, this Assange guy is a total asshat, and whomever is leaking these documents should be charged with treason and (if convicted, naturally) shot.

Also, speaking of being shot, do you notice how they never seem to have any secret data to release on, say Russia or China? Now, if Assange truly were this glorious defender of freedom you might think that he’d grow some stones and publish documents about truly repressive regimes.

But the simple fact is he’s a pussy, because he knows they’d come after him. And get him.

So he attacks the easy target. Yawn.

Anyhow, is there anything in these documents that is so outrageously outrageous? I’m just not seeing it.

Gosh, Hillary wants our diplomats to keep their eyes and ears open and keep tabs on other nations’ folks? How shocking!

We suspect there’s corruption in the Afghan government? Never!

The Russian Mafia may have a lot of political power in Russia? No!

Saudi Arabia has funded Al Qaeda? Saudi Arabia? Really? You mean the same Saudi Arabia that was home to 15 of the 19 September 11th terrorists? That Saudi Arabia?

While the chattering classes are all a-twitter about this in Europe and varying lefty places about the world, it seems that a lot of this is stuff that everyone always just assumed but would rather wish that no one heard you say…sort of like if there was a tape recorder in the car that took down all of our private conversations after we left a party. Embarrassing? Sure, but certainly nothing there is indicative of some vast evil conspiracy.

The unfortunate end result of this “forced openness in a Democracy” crap that Assange is spouting is that diplomats and politicians will become even more secretive after this, which is the exact opposite of what he claims he is trying to achieve.

But I derive such pleasure from wallowing in my shallowness, if one can do such a thing. For example, these past few days we spent a wonderfully relaxing time with Crusader and family and his in-laws in Owego, NY, folks we hadn’t seen in many a year.

On Friday, as we were getting ready to skedaddle, our gracious hostess took us to the very lovely downtown in Owego to their local historical society. They have this delightful fundraiser every year, where different groups decorate small Christmas trees and then they are placed around the museum on display and they hold a silent auction for them and the money goes to the society or various charities, I suppose. This year, as this blurry photo amply demonstrates, they had over 100 trees

They all were uniquely decorated and very lovely and nearly all had several bids on them already and demand was heating up…except for this one

In this season of gratitude, Bill Krissoff has a different notion of thankfulness than most of us.

…Bill and Christine Krissoff had a right to think their family had already sacrificed enough for the country. Both of their sons, Nathan and Austin, “were heavily influenced by 9/11,” Krissoff recounts, and enlisted in the Marine Corps. The older, Nathan, a graduate of Williams College who was an accomplished piano player, a talented athlete, and a natural leader, was killed in combat in Iraq in December 2006.

The idea came to Krissoff that he, too, wanted to serve the Marines, as a surgeon…

…Only at age 60, he was too old. He wanted to sign up with the Navy so he could care for Marines, but the Navy politely turned him down. His second choice, the Army, told him it would take at least a year for an age waiver.

Then the Krissoffs were invited to a small gathering with Pres. George W. Bush, who was in the area meeting with families of the fallen. At the end, Bush asked if there was anything the White House could do. Krissoff said he wanted a waiver to serve in the Navy Medical Corps. The meeting was on a Tuesday.

I heard this in the car this morning. Luckily I was already parked or I would have driven off the road from laughing. It is so…beautifully pathetic

KABUL, Afghanistan — For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the repeated appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.

But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor, and high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.

“It’s not him,” said a Western diplomat in Kabul intimately involved in the discussions. “And we gave him a lot of money.”

I can’t think of any other word to describe our Administration in this.

Farookin’ pathetic.

But I do doff my cap to the fella who pulled it off.

Thank god that schtupid Chimpy McBushyhitlerstein is out of the White House, eh?

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea bombarded a South Korean island near their disputed western border Tuesday, setting buildings ablaze and killing at least one marine after warning the South to halt military drills in the area, South Korean officials said.

South Korea said it returned fire and scrambled fighter jets in response, and said the “inhumane” attack on civilian areas violated the 1953 armistice halting the Korean War. The two sides technically remain at war because a peace treaty was never negotiated.

The Air Force mistakenly gave rival companies sensitive information that contained each other’s confidential bids in a long-standing, multibillion dollar competition to build a new refueling tanker.

…Boeing received detailed proprietary information about the EADS bid; corresponding information was given to EADS North America concerning the Boeing bid.

…Source selection information is data critical to the Air Force’s making a decision on which bid to select and could include technical data about the competing aircraft as well as financial information. Defense News and The Seattle Times initially reported Friday on the Air Force’s mistake. The Times said the data included crucial pricing information on the competing bids.

Well…GOSH. Now ALL that awful Boeing uncertainty is just conveniently cleared up, isn’t it? And they can adjust whatever they need to, to beat EADS into submission without all that bullshit screaming about “American jobs lost” if they blew the bid (As everyone knows, “Alabama” jobs aren’t “American“, especially since they might not even be “UNION”.). DAMN, that’s great. And the Washington Senator girls get culpable deniablility, because it was a clerical Air Force error (Oh! BAD Air Force!), so their bosoms can heave HUGE sighs of relief that they didn’t have to go to bat against Richard Shelby again. For SURE, there’ll be a little something in someone or two or three’s stocking SOMEwhere, even though it was serendipity, right?

Oh, I know. Color me a cynic. I guess it’s life lessons for me ~ NOTHING’S ever been quite that convenient, so I project my bitterness.

Up to 5,000 pupils attending weekend schools across Britain are being exposed to textbooks claiming that some Jews were transformed into pigs and apes, and that some offences could be punished with stoning. One book for six year-olds warns that those who do not believe in Islam will be condemned to “hellfire” in death.

Another text for 15 year-olds teaches that thieves who break Sharia law should have their hands cut off for a first offence and their feet amputated for a subsequent crime. Teenagers are presented with diagrams showing where the cuts should be made.

This reminds me of a very old SNL skit where John Belushi was being held captive in some barbarian village and the judge said “Hmmm, let’s see. We got off your right hand when we arrested you for pickpocketing and we cut out your tongue when we convicted you of blasphemy. Now what should the penalty be for your current crime of adultery…”

But since these school sessions are in Jolly Olde England and and it involves, er, Presbyterian texts I’m sure the government will roll over and Prince Charles will appear on BBC1 and talk about “understanding.”

And we’ll see lots of things like this

The Saudi Ambassador told the BBC it was “dangerously deceptive and misleading” to discuss some of the texts outside of context.

Because, hey, you know, them Juice do want to take over the world and drink our blood, right?

The US Federal Reserve will slash its growth forecasts and predict higher unemployment when it releases updated economic projections this week.

The Fed will release the latest forecasts made by members of its rate-setting open market committee on Tuesday, alongside the minutes of their November meeting, giving a complete picture of why they launched a new $600bn round of asset purchases.

Yes, by golly, all these Supery Genius moves they’ve done so far have made such a world of improvement, haven’t they? So clearly they need to embiggen them, right?

I mean, I certainly am glad to hear that there’s no silly talk that perhaps you guys are…wrong?

I do wonder sometimes what sort of La-La Land these people inhabit

The committee will also issue 2013 forecasts for the first time and officials who supported further asset purchases are likely to predict that core inflation will stay below the Fed’s 2 per cent goal for the next three years.

“It is not unreasonable to expect 1 per cent inflation in 2012. Unless the actual conditions turn out to be very different from my forecast, inflation of less than 1.5 per cent in 2013 is a strong possibility,” said Charles Evans, Chicago Fed president, in a speech last month.

I believe the French have a phrase that covers my reaction to this:

“Are you on fucking drugs?”

Commodity food-stuff prices are through the roof, the Fed is printing money and inflating the money supply…but because oil is relatively flat and consumer electronics are flat to cheaper they claim there’s no inflation.

Shenyang outstanding hospitals see infertility effect? me 4 years ago confirmed is a two-sided adhesive and distal tube obstruction of fallopian tube, have done a variety of treatment. But the effect is not good. ? Yang city reproductive medicine Center (Shenyang Oriental Medical Group of outstanding hospitals) 0 2 3 3 4 2 5 8 3 2 2 State infertility IVF specialist hospital South Street, Nanjing Road, Heping District, Shenyang city, 156, which city has an infertility specialist clinics, however this treatment is very troublesome, jianghu cannot listen youyi and television advertisements, listen to the voices of patients! I’m not advertising, I was also the patients, it is to listen to some TV ads, I plead for the four or five years, the results didn’t spend less money, don’t eat less crime, disease, then listen to meizhi a relatives said here in the treatment of infertility, but also state-owned hospital, spend less, and not deceptive. Here, really makes me feel here is really a cure infertility of the expert group, which made me conceive the years dreams (now eight months, test tube), I’m here to thank their favors, I would advise you do not have the disease of infertility patients shows that missed the optimal treatment period, sorry it’s late. ——–A heartfelt advice

A man who got his penis stuck in a steel pipe had to be cut free by firefighters using a metal grinder, after doctors in casualty could not free his genitals from their metal trap.

Medics at Southampton General Hospital struggled to get the man’s penis out of the stainless steel pipe, because the restricted blood flow had caused it to become erect.

Evidently he didn’t have such troubles on the way in.

Speaking of which

The man, thought to be aged around 40, did not explain to hospital staff how exactly the pipe got stuck around his penis, after he presented himself at the hospital’s Accident & Emergency department on Tuesday morning. He was said to be ‘quite concerned and anxious’.

Thank God we’ve got adults in the White House now who treat our treasured allies like full equals on the world stage. I’m of course referring to the Elder Mature Statesmen we have who represent our nation, People of Reason who understand the subtle nuanced intricacies that modern Smart Diplomacy requires and avoid arrogance at all costs, especially when dealing with other cultures

Last night Vice President Biden sat down for an interview with Larry King – his 49th appearance on the CNN host’s program.

The always-loquacious vice president had a colorful message for the Afghans regarding the timeline for transferring security by 2014, a plan that will be outlined here at the NATO summit in Lisbon.

“Daddy is going to start to take the training wheels off in October — I mean in next July, so you’d better practice riding,” he said.

FIRST, she drives that BASTION of moral rectitude and civility ~ CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER ~ to not only use the phrase “touch my junk” in print, BUT…dear God give me strength……”…MY PACKAGE…” and “…MY JOHNSON…” as well!!!!

…Don’t touch my junk, you airport security goon — my package belongs to no one but me, and do you really think I’m a Nigerian nut job preparing for my 72-virgin orgy by blowing my johnson to kingdom come?

Quelle horreur!!
And now along comes sweet Mary Katharine Ham ~ last seen with a Barack Obama doll whispering over her shoulder ~ explaining how the Little Mermaid was “felt up” by the TSA last week?

WASHINGTON – Nobody trains for chaos like this. Out the pilots’ left window, far above the ocean, an engine as big as a bus had disintegrated, blasting shrapnel holes in the superjumbo’s wing. And now an overwhelming flood of computer alarms was warning the pilots that critical systems might be failing.

…”The amount of failures is unprecedented,” said Richard Woodward, a fellow Qantas A380 pilot who has spoken to all five pilots. “There is probably a one in 100 million chance to have all that go wrong.”

But it did.

…As luck would have it, there were five experienced pilots — including three captains — aboard the plane. The flight’s captain, Richard de Crespigny, was being given his annual check ride — a test of his piloting skills — by another captain. That man was himself being evaluated by a third captain. There were also first and second officers, part of the normal three-pilot team. In all, the crew had over 100 years of flying experience.

It’s almost like a Monty Python skit-the tester of the tester was being tested.

Sue Aitken called the police because she was worried about her son, Brian. She now lives with the guilt of knowing that her phone call is the reason Brian spent his 27th birthday in a New Jersey prison last month. If the state gets its way, he will be there for the next seven years.

Yep, it’s a good sign that we are finally getting some of the money they should never have gotten back, but there’s a long way to go before we’re anywhere close to breaking even. The AP has a list of the numbers

Original bailout: $50 billion.

GM repaid loan portion, $6.7 billion.

GM to buy back government preferred shares: $2.1 billion.

GM repayment of government interest and dividends: $700 million.

Total repayment before IPO: $9.5 billion.

What GM still owes before IPO: $40 billion.

Government likely to make $13.6 billion in IPO by selling 412 million of its 912 million common shares at $33 each. This assumes bankers exercise options for more shares.

What GM owes after IPO: $26.4 billion.

To get $26.4 billion, government’s remaining shares must sell for $53 per share, $20 more than the IPO price.

The big problem with this is that the amount GM will still owe is not $26.4 billion but rather at least $33.1 billion because their much ballyhooed “repayment” of $6.7 billion was in fact a lie

…But lawmakers, and even the inspector general for the bailout fund GM borrowed from, point out that General Motors only repaid the bailout money by dipping into a separate pot of bailout money. They say the company did not actually use its own earnings to make the early payment…

…General Motors admits that the company is repaying the loan with other government money, but says a year ago “nobody thought we’d be able to pay this back.”